Mitsubishi Evo dead, hybrid crossover to replace it

Pour some out for the icon.

Autocar has confirmed the rumor no one ever wanted to hear come true: the Mitsubishi Evo is dead. Kanenori Okamoto, managing executive officer at Mitsubishi, said that the Evolution will cease to exist as the tarmac-clawing four-door we all know and love. As if we needed another reason to drink at our desks.

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Autocar quotes Okamato as saying, "It will be replaced in spirit by an SUV with high performance." By "SUV" he clearly means crossover, and Mitsubishi has not been shy about going all in on that segment as it maps out its future lineup. Last year in Tokyo, they showed off a trio of the things, one of which, the XR-PHEV, is the most likely candidate for the next-generation Evo (or whatever it winds up being called).

There is some good news. Mitsubishi says the successor will borrow inspiration from the company's electric Pikes Peak hillclimb racer and feature the Super All Wheel Control system designed for the Evo X. Despite it being a grizzled old man compared to the spanky new Subaru WRX and STI, it's still a joyful thing to drive hard.

Now, the conventional wisdom is that the Concept XR-PHEV (above), previews the styling of the next-generation Outlander Sport. This week in Paris, Mitsubishi doubled down on that front-end language with the Outlander PHEV Concept-S, which is basically a current-gen PHEV Outlander wearing the new-look face. So, the matter of styling language appears to be settled.

There's good reason to believe that the next Outlander Sport will, in turn become the basis for the new performance halo. How come? Mitsubishi's Vision Gran Turismo car is also the aforementioned XR-PHEV, albeit a slammed and deliciously box-flared version of it:

Polyphony Digital

No one's gonna complain if something in that vein becomes the Mitsu performance flagship, especially if meets or exceeds the standards set by the Evo X. What you're seeing there is way more hot hatch than soccer-practice shuttle.

Yeah, we'll miss the sedan Evo and everything it represents. But maybe this story doesn't have a sad ending after all. It's all going to come down to how well Mitsubishi executes this product shift. So get it right, guys.